Yours truly pitching MAPALL to a jury of top NYC officials during the Ford Mobilize NY Competition. I was granted the 1st place Community Award and 2nd place Jury Award. Both were cash prizes.
When coming up with this idea, none of the GPS-based apps addressed the needs of people with reduced mobility. My mom was visiting me in NYC, and her arthritis didn't allow her to freely take the stairs when taking the subway. Finding working elevators was a struggle, that she ended up being discouraged from going out with me.
Finding working elevators was a struggle. A surprising 25% of people in NYC’s population, whether physically challenged or burdened with luggage or packages, need access to public transportation, but the challenges are often daunting. It would be an easily achievable next step to adapt existing apps and add a new navigation filter. It will be important for us to have immediate interaction among users so that the users who activate the mapall filter can report and regularly update live information about the working status of elevators/escalators.
The goal is to make the city accessible to everyone by making existing infrastructure impediments identifiable to everyone.
The goal is to make the city accessible to everyone by making existing infrastructure impediments identifiable to everyone.
To carry out their daily lives, around 25% of NYC residents (more than 2 million people) need accessible transportation. If a fraction of this group were able to use the MTA, surrounding businesses would conveniently prosper from increased traffic in the area. Although many MTA stations are accessible, a significant number of them are not. Imagine if you’re a wheelchair user... Wouldn’t you want an easy way to find out which stations have elevators before you leave home? Wouldn’t having up-to-date information about each station’s access save you a lot of time each day that you had previously spent looking for a practical way to use MTA? Countless other examples come to mind where one would need the use of an accessible station. It’s you in a wheelchair, a father with a baby, an elderly couple unable to navigate the stairs, and the traveler with a large suitcase heading to the airport.
MAPALL will provide accurate and reliable, accessible routes, allowing New Yorkers to travel smarter and more efficiently.
